Thursday, February 26, 2015

We have two lovely teen daughters in the house (15 and 14, both with July birthdays, gulp). I wrote a blog post on movies for 12 year olds that was either well-received or I was blasted for how liberal I am or others thought I am way too conservative...I thought I would share some media that I am permitting the girls to see now or in the near future.

1. They haven't seen some good classics like Ben Hur. What do you think of The Agony and the Ecstasy? Also, I think they would enjoy The Scarlet & the Black after traveling in Germany and learning about World War II more concretely last summer. And I cannot forget one of my all-time favorites: Rope.

2.Pride & Prejudice- they are reading their way through Austen, so I thought they would like to watch one of the movie versions. I like all of the ones I have seen.

3. I am really debating about this one: a rare movie version of the Shakespeare play Cymbeline. My girls just completed performing this with their Shakespeare class. The cast looks good, I especially enjoy seeing Ed Harris. Ethan Hawke as Iachimo is getting top billing, but the character is not that big. A month ago it was called 'Anarchy' and was rated PG-13, now it is back to its original name and rated R. We'll probably wait for the video so I can watch it before they do.

4.Thoroughly Modern Millie- They got the dvd for Christmas from family! It has to be good! Filmed in 1967 with Julie Andrews and Carol Channing and rated G, I'm not sure it would get a 'G' now.

5. For Lent, Jesus of Nazareth- my teens have not seen The Passion of the Christ yet. Every family is different. I am 'liberal' in some ways, 'conservative' in other ways. I do know some conservative Catholic families who permit their pre-teens and younger children to watch Tolkien book films and The Passion because of the themes of good overcoming evil and the fact that there are strong Catholic connections. I try to tell my children that they are living in the golden age of media. Even when mama says they cannot watch something, there will be a future time when they can see it digitally. Not like the old pre-cable days. Do you remember watching Wizard of Oz once a year? In any case, we will stick with this classic for now, even though I am 99.9% certain that Jesus does not have blue eyes...

6.The Drop Box- This will show in our town for three days in early March. It is a documentary about a South Korean pastor who is saving abandon babies with a drop box at his church. I imagine it to be a bit like a library book return.

7. Poirotand Murder, She Wrote- These are the sort of shows that I have to yell at the girls for clicking on the next episode. David Suchet as Poirot is impeccable; I will not be surprised if a daughter brings home a small-mustached future boyfriend (years and years from now, of course). And lovely Murder, She Wrote. Did you know that there are 264 episodes? But the theme music brings back such good high school memories. Cabot Cove was certainly a dangerous spot to live, but I would still live there, hoping to bump into Mrs. Fletcher at the grocery store.

Boy & Baby Girl have read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" many times, but Grandpa hadn't. They liked knowing what he didn't, but he also kept them in suspense with his special method of adding to and elaborating on the story. Before it was popular, my dad read aloud to us. I especially remember him reading Peter Pan and the Little House books to us as children. I think my mother and father's own love of reading and their insistence that we read a lot, controlled our television viewing, and visited the beloved library helped us all become book lovers.

Monday, February 9, 2015

So, we moved into a rental home that is triple the size of the townhouse we own. There is storage. There is more than one shower. There is even solid surface counter tops in the kitchen! But as my mama says, "wherever you go, there you are." Old habits die hard. I really had no room for homesteading at the townhouse. When one has a maximum of six feet of counter tops, one will not sacrifice an inch of it for fermenting cabbage. It is hard, perhaps not impossible, to grow any food on the cement slab in the tiny back yard.

Now my only excuse for not 'urban homesteading' is our three year lease. I do not want to put a penny into our homestead that cannot be used immediately or moved to our next home. So, I will not be planting any trees. I am tempted to try a bit of aquaponics. We shall see.

Here is our homestead today, next Monday, the planters should be filled with earth and seeds. Yes, that is an old kitchen drawer. I am really trying to not spend money on this endeavor.

Child labor, weeding in preparation for planting I do not know what (I was hoping to plant potatoes but there are irrigation pipes here....)- Daughter #1 wanted to learn 'survival skills' as her new year's resolution. We might not become preppers, but it would be smart to be a bit more self-sufficient. This week's project is getting some sauerkraut going! Updating Mondays....

It is too true that I who write about the devout life am not myself devout, but most certainly I am not without the wish to become so, and it is this wish which encourages me to teach you. A notable literary man has said that a good way to learn is to study, a better to listen, and the best to teach. And Saint Augustine, writing to the devout Flora, says, that giving is a claim to receive, and teaching a way to learn. -St. Francis de Sales